Let food be thy medicine: mantra for good health

"LET food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" said Hippocrates (460-370 BC), a physician who is considered the father of Western medicine.

Unfortunately, some original followers of Hippocrates have moved into hypocrisy with their attitudes towards traditional medicine.

Quotes such as "... my music isn't just music. It's medicine," by American singer Kanye West have not helped the image of conventional medicine.

A modern take on Hippocrates's original idea about food and health has been going around social media lately as an anonymous quote:

"Medicine is not healthcare. Food is healthcare. Medicine is sickcare. Let's all get this straight for a change."

The quote is attributed to American physician Sidney R Garfield (1906-1984), who sought to understand and treat the body, mind, and spirit of his patients and ended up founding a prepaid healthcare scheme and hospital in the USA in the 1940s.

We put the quote to representatives of conventional and alternative medicine and their answers were surprisingly complementary.